


If I Asked You

by sanctuary_for_all



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, I Must Fix Everything Everywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-02
Updated: 2014-07-15
Packaged: 2018-02-07 02:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1881882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of the Battle of New York, Bruce finally starts rebuilding the life he lost years before. Set after "The Avengers," with spoilers for "The Incredible Hulk."</p><p>***Now with chapter 2!***</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I finally watched "The Incredible Hulk," mostly because it was the only movie in the official Avengers MCU canon that I hadn't seen yet, and Bruce/Betty killed me dead. This is set in the same general universe as my [Home and Family"](http://archiveofourown.org/series/97250) and ["The Spider and the Hawk"](http://archiveofourown.org/series/94339) series, but for the purposes of this fic that isn't even slightly relevant.

"...not quite as impressive as it will be once all the repairs are finished, but the arc reactor means that we can still get power to all the toys." Tony swept a hand around the lab, surprisingly intact given the fact that Stark Tower had been the center of the alien invasion. "Technically, this is my spare personal lab, for those times when I need the extra storage space or blow up my main lab a little bit. But I'd be happy to hand it over to you until I can get one set up to your specifications...."

Bruce listened helplessly, rubbing a hand over his heart as if that could somehow dispel the ache. He thought he'd stopped letting himself hope for a future.

When Tony paused for breath, he made one last attempt to remind the other man of the situation. "You shouldn't be worried about making sure I have even borrowed lab space. I'm probably already going to cause you enough trouble just by staying a few days."

Tony refocused on Bruce, giving him a penetrating look. "You don't have to run anymore. SHIELD stopped chasing you, and between the two of us I think we can make anyone else who wants to come after you run home crying for their mothers."

Bruce's chest tightened at the blunt, uncomplicated assurance. He knew it had to be curiosity that was making Tony open his arms like this – there was no other explanation that made any sense – and when it ended he'd regret shackling himself to a big, green weight around his neck. "That doesn't mean _I'm_ not a danger. The big guy might fight on the side of angels sometimes, but he still doesn't know how to do it without breaking everything in sight."

"I'm rich enough to buy more stuff, you know." He waggled his fingers at the equipment. "Doubles, even, in case you want to have a spare on hand."

Bruce let out a breath. "I'm thinking more on the scale of cities, Tony. Eventually, even you would run out of money."

"We'll have to agree to disagree on that." Tony raised an eyebrow. "But you do remember the showers, right? Eight speeds, multiple angles, temperature calibrated to your precise physical needs? You're really going to miss the chance to spend an extra week or two with those bad boys?"

Bruce winced. Tony's description of the showers had been the final detail that had first persuaded him to come to Stark Tower in the first place. "It's for the best. Believe me."

Tony studied him for another long moment, then nodded as if accepting that answer. "Man's gotta do what a man's gotta do." He shrugged, voice suddenly as casual as if they were discussing the weather. "But you should probably stay in town long enough to find out whether Dr. Ross is dead or not. Empire State University might not have been at the center of the attack, but it was close enough that I'm sure there was some damage."

The world skidded to a stop as all the air rushed out of Bruce's lungs. "No," he rasped, brain scrabbling for purchase. He felt his eyes flash, and he forced himself to breathe again. "She's in Virginia." Far enough away to be safe from him. Far enough away not to touch.

Tony leaned back against the edge of the counter, folding his arms across his chest. "She _was_ in Virginia. After Dr. Sterns did his whole 'mad scientist' routine, she offered to be ESU's liaison with SHIELD to understand the research." His grin had a dangerous edge to it. "Given what I've seen of the records, she took that to mean 'wiping all the important bits before anyone else got a hold of them.' It was bad enough that when Thor caused that mess in New Mexico, agents didn't bother talking and just swept Dr. Foster's lab clean of everything but the paperclips."

All Bruce could do was stare, stunned beyond the ability to think by what he was hearing. Tony watched him, expression shifting into something that almost looked sympathetic. "After that, she decided to stay on staff. Biology isn't really my thing, but her research on adrenaline and serotonin in unconventional cell reactions is brilliant."

Bruce closed his eyes. His throat was tight enough that he didn't trust himself to speak, even if by some miracle he could figure out how to form words.

Gently, Tony patted him on the shoulder. "She's probably not dead," he said quietly. "But you might want to check, just in case."

000

Betty wasn't dead.

That should have been the end of it. A phone call to ESU was enough to confirm that she'd checked in after the attack, and though the campus was closed she'd been involved in efforts to make certain that all the students were accounted for and settled. She was clearly fine, which meant there was no excuse to intrude on a life he no longer had any place in. Besides, the campus wasn't even open, and she'd gone unlisted long before he'd left all those years ago.

But then the secretary – who was clearly fond of Betty, but in Bruce's experience everyone with any kind of sense was – mentioned that she was probably volunteering at the temporary refuge shelter that had been set up at the recreation center. Public transportation wasn't working terribly well yet, but Tony had offered him the use of a driver three times in the space of a 24 hour period. If worse came to worse, he'd gone that far on foot before.

He wasn't as strong as he should be. And there was no longer enough distance standing between them.

Bruce took a taxi most of the way, then covered the rest of the distance on foot to give himself time to possibly see sense. The big guy's face was plastered on newspapers, TV and Stark phone screens all across the city, but no one gave Bruce Banner a second glance. He passed through the wounded city the same way everyone else did – anonymously.

The same held true when he got to the ESU campus. He didn't see the guard he'd conned, all those years ago, and to everyone else he looked no different than any of the other displaced professors and local residents wandering around campus. It was far too easy to blend in, ask for directions to the rec center as if he was someone who belonged here.

He slipped inside, but stayed near walls and pillars so he would be carefully out of the way. He'd learned to make himself disappear in the near-decade he'd been on the run, as if making himself absent would somehow compensate for the extra space the big guy took up. He had broken the city once before, and at the time he'd felt the only apology was to leave it in peace.

But standing here, in the shadows of old memories he'd tried so hard to lock away, he remembered that he hadn't, exactly, been the one to break Harlem. And he hadn't, exactly, been the one to break New York now. He'd added to the destruction, but he'd been far from the source of it.

And there was a woman here who'd worked to keep him safe, even though he'd only ever brought her pain.

Bruce found her almost instantly, sure he would recognize the lilt of her voice and the slope of her shoulders even if he'd been deaf and blind. The last four years had barely left a mark on her, though her eyes looked infinitely more tired than he remembered, and for a moment he was utterly caught by the simple act of watching her hand out bowls of soup to the lost. He soaked the sight of her into his cells, preparing himself for the lifetime of deprivation that lay ahead.

It felt like both an eternity and a heartbeat before her eyes caught his, the wary shock in them more than enough of an indication that he'd been seen. He fled like the coward he was, stumbling outside the doors like it was somehow enough of an escape.

She followed him out, running feet slowing to a stop far enough away that he couldn't reach out for her. Bruce couldn't help remembering a kiss in the rain, years old, but as he saw the caution in her eyes he knew she'd grown wiser than he had. "Sorry." He forced himself to breathe, focused on making his lungs work properly so he could ignore the symphony of misery inside him. "I just ... I heard you were in New York now. I wanted ...." There were far too many ways to finish that sentence. "I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Betty inhaled, as if remembering something. "I saw you on the news." Her hand lifted a little before she curled her fingers into a fist. "I tried calling Stark Industries, to see if Mr. Stark knew if you were alright, but I couldn't get through to anyone who knew anything."

Bruce's eyes widened. "You tried—" He stopped himself again when he saw that her eyes were wet, his own throat tight with too much emotion. He rubbed a hand across his mouth, fighting it back. "I'm glad you're safe," he managed finally, voice rough.

A faint smile flickered across her face. "I'm glad you're safe, too."

"Betty...." Promises crowded his throat, enough that it hurt to swallow them back down. The government may no longer have been chasing him, but he still turned into a monster. He had no right to imagine she wanted anything he had to offer.

Maybe ... maybe for others, though. "Do ... you need anything?" His voice was rough. "I don't know if I'd trust the big guy with repairs, but I've gotten pretty good at treating injuries."

She flinched at that, just a little, and he cursed himself for opening his mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ..." He held his hands up in apology, turning to go. "I'll leave you alone."

He stopped when she caught his shoulder. "Bruce." The word wavered, and he felt his own eyes sting as he turned back to look at her. She didn't let go as their gazes locked, closer than they'd been in years.

"I'm sorry." The tears were spilling over, but she looked as brave and beautiful as she always did. "I just ... I can't ...."

"Betty." The word hurt to say, but he'd go through that pain a thousand times over for the chance to cover her hand with his. "You don't need to say it. I understand."

"Do you?" The question was half angry, half pleading. "Losing you nearly killed me, and you made me do it _twice_. I know you think you're protecting me from a monster, but the Hulk would never hurt me. _You're_ the one who keeps breaking my heart!"

Bruce had stopped breathing somewhere in the middle of that, his heart pounding hard enough that an attack was entirely possible. In that moment, he'd never been more grateful for the fact that his pulse no longer controlled his transformations.

Words, however, were beyond him, and after an endless moment she let go and took a step back. "Stay safe," she whispered, clearly struggling with her emotions. "I've got—"

"I could stay."

Bruce hadn't known he was even going to say the words until they'd fallen out of his mouth, a whisper not brave enough to be anything else. Betty froze, so still he wasn't even certain she was breathing until she forced herself to inhale. "What?"

He scrubbed a hand across his face. "Now that SHIELD thinks I'm useful, the government isn't chasing me anymore. Tony's offered to swat at anyone else who might be a little too interested, which means ...." Bruce took a deep breath, meeting her eyes again. He didn't deserve her. He would never deserve her.

_So you're saying that the Hulk... the other guy... saved my life? That's nice. It's a nice sentiment. Save it for what?_

For Betty, maybe. For hope.

"I could stay." His voice was a rasp. "If ... if you wanted me to."

For a moment, all she could do was stare. Then she was in his arms, her own wrapped so tight around him that he could imagine she'd never let go.

He held onto her just as tightly, lips against her hair, and comforted the woman he loved while she cried.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept trying to write the next fic in this series, only to realize that the reason I was having so much trouble with it was that it was supposed to be chapter two of _this_ fic.

Bruce served soup with her.

Betty tried not to stare as he carefully distributed the bowls of donated soup, smiling at the children and asking after the occasional injury, but it was so hard. He was crouched down next to one woman now, talking softly in a language she knew wasn’t English, and Betty’s footsteps slowed again the sight.  She kept expecting him to disappear every time she blinked, a dream or memory instead of flesh and blood, and so she wanted to stare as long as she could.

_I could stay._

Her heart lurched at the memory of Bruce's words, and she pressed the palm of her hand against her chest as if that would somehow be enough to stop it. She wanted to believe him so _badly_. No matter how many years it had been, or how many men she’d tried to date to forget about him, Bruce still had so much of her heart she hadn’t had enough to give anyone else. The idea of finally, finally being able to build a future with him was enough to make her head spin.

But how could she be sure? The government wasn’t chasing him now, but what if they started again? What if something else happened that made Bruce suddenly decide he was too dangerous, and he slipped away in the middle of the night? She would go with him, if he had to leave – she’d decided that long ago – but if he didn’t tell her he was going….

“Please tell me someone’s finally caught your attention. If he’s not married, I’ll go get some sedative for you right now.”

Startled out of her thoughts, Betty turned to see Dr. Bonita Sanchez standing right next to her. A cheerful but tough biology professor who specialized in aging, Bonita had been Betty’s friend since almost the first moment she’d come to ESU. “Excuse me?”

“Whoever you’re staring at,” she said with a smile. “You haven’t been on a single date in the last year and a half, and if you’ve finally found someone that rings your chimes we’re not going to wait for that whole number exchange nonsense.” She followed where Betty’s gaze had been, scanning the crowd of temporary refugees for possible candidates.

Betty’s own gaze returned to the crowd, and as Bruce stood their eyes met for just a moment. He offered her a hesitant smile, still not sure of his welcome, and she was powerless not to smile back at him. His expression relaxed, his own lips curving upward just a little bit more, and he turned to head back to the counter for more soup.

Betty turned only when she heard the gasp next to her. “That’s Bruce, isn’t it?”

Too many years of protecting Bruce started her mouth moving before she could even think about it. “I never—“

Bonita held up a warning finger. “Do not even _think_ about giving me that nonsense you keep shoveling at SHIELD every time they come around. You hardly ever talk about him, but I have known you for almost four years now and I have _never_ seen you smile at someone like that."

Betty was frozen for a second, then she made a sound caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "He said he could stay," she whispered, needing to tell someone.

Bonita's eyes widened. "Then what are you doing standing over here?"

Betty let out a breath, admitting for the first time just how afraid she was. "What if he can't?"

"That—" Bonita stopped herself from whatever she'd been about to say, watching Betty's face. After a moment, she looked over at Bruce. "Is it going to be any easier if you watch him walk away from here?" she asked quietly. "Because if so, then stay right where you are."

Betty shook her head, eyes stinging, and walked over to Bruce. He'd gotten two more bowls from the cafeteria cooks, but instead of passing them out to one of the families he held it out to her as she approached. "They said you hadn't eaten lunch," he offered, the small smile on his face still just as fragile as it had been before. "I thought maybe we..."

The words trailed off when he saw her eyes, his expression sobering as he set the bowls down on the nearest flat surface and hurried over. "Are you okay?" Bruce reached out to her, then caught himself and curled his fingers in. "Is there ..." He hesitated. "Tell me if there's something I can do."

Instead of responding Betty reached out, wrapping her own fingers around the skin of his wrist. She could feel his pulse jump under her thumb as she met his eyes, a surprisingly similar rhythm to the pounding of her own heart.

She wondered when he'd stopped being so careful with his pulse. One of a million things she'd missed, over the years.

"If you have to leave again, I'm coming with you." The words were shakier than Betty might have hoped for, but they were also angry. "If you try to disappear without telling me, I'll just try and track you down on my own. Think about how much trouble I'll get into then."

Bruce just stared at her as if he'd never seen anything like her. Then he closed his eyes. "I keep thinking I'm dreaming," he whispered. "The Big Guy hit his head during the fight, and I'm lying in the rubble somewhere while my subconscious tries to come up with a version of heaven I could actually believe in."

"How do you think I feel?" She leaned in close enough that their foreheads touched. "Don't leave me again, Bruce." The words are a plea and an order, all at once. "No matter how dangerous it gets."

He let out a breath, as shaky as her voice had been. "Okay."

Betty crossed the last bit of distance between them for a kiss, far too soft and gentle to make up for all the kisses they have missed over the years. She stopped the thought, telling herself there would be time to catch up, and as Bruce's arms tightened around her again she realized that he was telling himself the same thing.

The thought was immensely comforting.

When they broke apart, she smiled at him. "Come on." Catching his hand in hers, she laced their fingers together. "Let's find someplace to sit down."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come check out my original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


End file.
